this is an article from Simon Black, as far I know, he's not a follower of Jesus....however that doesn't inhibit one from speaking some truth....at the end, he DOES miss a VERY important Thing we can do, which will fill in:
"A Culture Of Fear And Intimidation..."
"Submitted by Simon Black of Sovereign Man blog,
Last week when I arrived to Bangladesh, the immigration officials there were positively ecstatic to see a foreign tourist entering the country.
I’ve also been to places in Africa and the South Pacific where you’re greeted upon arrival by dancing tribespeople singing songs of welcome.
It’s not quite the same in the Land of the Free. In fact, before they even let people in the country, they program us to be afraid and intimidated.
For one thing, all the immigration officers are armed. There’s absolutely no reason for a government agent to carry a loaded pistol when all he does is stamp a passport. This is EXTREMELY uncommon in the rest of the world. Only in the Land of the Free.
Just like the airport security farce, which has millions of travelers assume the “I surrender” pose inside a radiation machine, US immigration checkpoints are there to train people to be afraid and submit to the state’s authority.
When you step back and look at the whole government apparatus, it’s apparent that this culture of fear and intimidation applies across the entire spectrum.
We’re programmed, for example, to be terrified of the IRS. It’s to the point that getting audited consistently ranks among people’s top fears in the Land of the Free, right up there with snakes and unexpected death. It’s quite sad, actually.
And whether this Soviet-style idea to target opposition political groups came from the top or from the lower ranks, it smacks of an entire organizational culture gone awry… one that thinks it has unlimited power and authority to squash anyone it wants.
We’re also programmed to fear the police… who are more commonly donning combat boots, assault rifles, and these hideous Urban Assault Vehicles as a show of force, as if they’re on patrol in Kandahar.
And we’re programmed to subordinate ourselves to the interests of the state… whether it’s “shared sacrifice”, i.e. everyone must universally suffer because politicians are incompetent, or ratting out our neighbors to Homeland Security (if you see something, say something) or the IRS.
There’s so much more. We’re told that we can be attacked by drones, held in military detention, or have our children taken away by the government. These are powerful tools in stoking a culture of fear to keep an entire civilization under control.
Yet these constant abuses of power are diametrically opposed to how a free society is supposed to conduct itself.
You’re probably aware of a particularly fitting quote, most frequently credited to Thomas Jefferson– “Where the people fear the government, you have tyranny. Where the government fears the people you have liberty.” It’s absolutely true.
(There is no evidence that Jefferson ever said this, nor is the phrase contained in his works. It was first seen in print in John Basil Barnhill’s article, ‘Indictment of Socialism No. 3? in 1914.)
Jefferson did write in a 1789 letter to Welsh philosopher Richard Price that “wherever the people are well informed they can be trusted with their own government; that whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them to rights.”
Unfortunately this isn’t happening; ‘the people’ aren’t rising up to set things right.
And this is an important reminder: we cannot rely on a government or society to provide us with freedom or the economic opportunity which stems from it. We can’t wait for tens of millions of people to ‘wake up’ and ‘vote the bums out’. Or take to the streets.
If history is any indicator, the fear and intimidation will likely get worse. This problem doesn’t just go away, and it doesn’t resolve itself.
The only viable strategy is to abandon the herd and focus on what we can all do as individuals to safeguard our wealth, preserve our liberties, and ensure the continued safety of our families".
-------------
here's my addition, he misses, OBVIOUSLY the MOST IMPORTANT Element of the "viable strategy"...."and he prayed".
We pray, and pray HARD, with tears, and travail. We speak to the Father, Abba, We take refuge in Him....and we KNOW, "Thy Will be done"...the downside of all this praying is this; beloved brethren, this might be the time for divine chastisement....this might be OUR "586 B.C."....and it could be on ONE sin issue only....do we not think that, Who holds the souls of 50 million aborted children in His Hand will ignore their blood much longer?
So that some comfort and solace be offered, in this oncoming national punishment, and WHAT we "do" in the aftermath, I believe a through "imbibing" of the Prophesy of Jeremiah might be in order. God the Holy Spirit instructed Jeremiah in detail what to prophesy to the people to do....they did not obey Yahweh, they thought by the "strength" of their arms they would prevail, instead it was a disaster....I see burned cities, and mounds of bodies rotting....and I am crying myself right now. (as I finished that last line, my mother called, and she doesn't have the ears to hear what I see)
crying for the people, both high and low....why was it, that God had me reading John Hersheys "Hiroshima" at 9 years old, perched in an apple tree behind a nunnery?...I couldn't put this book down....all the dreams I've had since, that men of flesh would call "PTSD"....they don't know what It feels like, to have the Hand of the LORD on you....why was It, that Messiah Jesus revealed Himself to a Jewish man in a lonely house trailer on windswept horse ranch?
I think of the people, so unawares, so at ease in "Zion", in their comfort....no idea what is to come. a Day of Fire, thousands upon thousands of these brooding instruments, weapons of war, that defy war itself,and crafted by men, mostly fellow Jews, who had fled the demon hitler, only to be drafted in the service of making a weapon so terrible, that in the vain hopes of man, it would "end all wars"...and my soul broods on all the people, children,elderly, how fragile this flesh is, and how precious the spirits of God's children...the ones THAT were ALLOWED to leave, and how many were cast into dustbins, like rubbish....and we actually BELIEVE God isn't brimming with a Fury unabated?...we actually believe He will do nothing?....for this sin?.....once upon a time they sacrificed their children into the Valley of Hinnom, to the god of pleasure the one they call molech...and millennia later, they change the name from "molech" to "choice", and 50 million souls are wiped out....and people actually believe in their darkened hearts, Yahweh will not punish this sin, with fury and fire and wrath?
the people have crafted a new golden calf, day by day, they worship this...this idol even has its own TV station called CNBC, where they follow the "Dow", the "NasDaq", etc....and they carry on, in this utter DISDAIN of the God Most High, and are so blinded, they fail to see Yahweh ripping apart this idol as I type these words?....WORSE YET, priest hirelings made a gospel that is no gospel, and DARE called it the "prosperity gospel".....24 HOURS A DAY ON TV!!!!...bright smiles, beautiful clothes, fancy homes and jets they have...no thought for their own demise at the Hands of an Angry God....How can one not LONG for the Stately Beauty of the New Jerusalem?..the Heavenly Jerusalem...Oh Jesus, help us...please..please help us....Bless You Lord for that torture on the tree....You loved me always, and i love You......save, save, save, amen.
